Wrasslin

42 minutes ago, TildeGuy~! said:

Having a bloke dressed in drag in the women’s rumble.

”women’s wrestling”

I mean I think that’s the point. They had him win the battle royal at WrestleMania back in the day. So it’s kind of a nod and a wink to say “we don’t do that anymore”. But sure take it at face value if you like

51 minutes ago, King Pitcos said:

The women's one was a bit problematic. Harlot didn't need another win, and Vince using Santino to take an unnecessary potshot at AEW and Nyla Rose was uncalled for.

Fairly sure it had nothing to do with Nyla rose and was just a nod to Beth’s history and probably a way of showing how far women’s wrestling has come in WWE

I love a whole one upsmanship thing. Like Kurt Angle aping all of HBKs career in the build up to their match. Sexy Kurt and wrestling Marty Janetty was great fun. 

16 hours ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

Exactly - it's also not something you would necessarily say/do in your every day life away from the comedy club.
A comedian goes on stage knowing/expecting to be heckled and they have the 'power' to fire back. Same as wrestling.
It's an unwritten 'rule' when you go to a comedy club that these things will likely happen. Same with wrestling.
Can you imagine a comedian going 'Please don't heckle me as it will really hurt my feelings and effect my mental health'...? Hell, Jimmy Carr's heckle comebacks are more brutal than the heckles he receives! It's understood to be part of his show.

It's the club/orgy rule - you don't like the comedian? Don't go to the show. Don't expect Roy Chubby Brown to change his material because you are offended by it.
 

 

Speaking as a comedian . . . we tolerate it.  It's not part of the show.

23 minutes ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

Damned sexy Flanders!!

*Stupid Sexy Flanders

3 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

I don't think it was planned - I just don't know why you'd book that, and it's not like Sasuke then as now wasn't prone to face-planting off an ambitious dive. 

That spot is a good indication of why I dislike the "Botchamania" approach, though. I can't think of a more joyless way of watching a wrestling match than looking out for, and pointing out "botches". So long as no one's seriously hurt, and it doesn't affect the flow of the match, what does it matter? It's supposed to be a competitive contest, so things won't always work out as planned, especially the more ambitious spots. Liger and Sasuke's recovery, if that was a mistake, adds to that match far more than if it was another flawless springboard move. 

100% agree with this. I think you learn more about how good a worker is with how they recover from these mistakes. Daniel Bryan is GREAT and just pouncing into something else when a spot goes awry. 

16 hours ago, SuperstarNeilC said:

*Firstly, he was a handsome man. Wrestling needs these good looking boys, like Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson. They make sympathetic good guys the crowd likes to get behind.

*With his eyes visible along with facial expressions it’s easier to connect with the audience, build an emotional bond with them.

*Good looking guys attract women to the shows, who drag along their boyfriends, increasing box office takings.

All the above are negated by wearing a mask.

Also, wearing a mask reduces peripheral vision. Ligers mask even worse, with the eye mesh. There’s no way a wrestler can GO 100% with a mask on. Especially a scientific aerial style. (The most effective masked wrestlers are the slow-moving bruisers).

*Masked wrestlers become boring. A real face is more interesting over the the long term. Even the best masked men, Kane, Mysterio, Kendo Nagasaki had to unmask to refresh their characters.

*Blading is more effective without a mask. Blood flowing down a clear face is more dramatic, pulling people closer into the match.

*Yamada had a perfect physique. V-shaped, slim but bulky enough, strong shoulders, huge biceps. A pleasing and inspiring physique that people like to look at. Even pro bodybuilders respect his build. All that was lost with the full body suit.

Thunder Liger was a unique colourful and wonderful character, one of the best ever. I just contend he could have been even better without the Liger gimmick.

 

Didn't we used to have a down vote button for stuff like this? The implication here being that Rey Mysterio wasn't/isn't an effective Luchador? Liger? Ultimo Dragon? Who?

And the idea that Rey ever removing his mask was a good idea is fucking bonkers. 

I don’t think they’re going that way at all to be honest. 

1 hour ago, Loki said:

That was odd.  I hope Rey's ok, his brain must be fucking mush by now at the best of times.  I thought they'd gone to the finish early and needed a few extra seconds or something.

Fucking hell Chavo is going to be high up his contact list as well . . . 

He won our hearts . . . that's all that matters.

4 hours ago, Mat said:

I’m convinced there’s an episode of South Park, in one of the first few seasons, where the boys find a man that’s been frozen in ice and they call him Stone Cold or Steve Austin. 
 

I’m also convinced there’s an episode of Nitro that opened with a funeral of stars put out by somebody (possibly JJ). With the faces of each displayed in the ring. Somebody linked to similar on here a while back but it wasn’t how I remembered at all.

They do name him Steve or Gorak (his name was actually Larry). Don’t think they give him the last name Austin though. 

Rusev for the Rumble win!

1, 9, 22, 26, 30

Of course that’s the original Steve Bull. Steve Bull handed down the moniker to Robbie Keane.

That would be super weird as they’ve been conditioning fans to actually do that for decades. 

Daniel Bryan but he’s probably not in the Rumble. (They really need to make that clear before the Rumble or we’re gonna end up with the backlash again) 

26,000 views. Society blows. 

If Valasquez wins the rumble it’ll be shat on to Roman Reigns winning it levels.

Then the Lesnar Valasquez match will probably get the same treatment at mania. 

I honestly don’t see how you build any interest in Lesnar Valasquez? Brock beat him in short order in what really seemed to be more of a setup to the Mysterio match than anything.

Fuck me imagine at that time when the IC title still meant something - ACTUALLY putting it on Sparky Plugg. Jesus. 

Also won the Rumble . . .

14 minutes ago, Gay as FOOK said:

He's a hell of a hand, but he's in the top ten of that "what's your direction and how many titles have you won, again?" stink that guys from the last decade have have had where they've become components of a giant content machine rather than fixed characters with a definite narrative arc and momentum, regardless of how big or small that might be. 

The Sheamus who beat Cena at TLC and had a program with Triple H was tremendous. The one goofing around with Cesaro also showed there was a sound bit of entertainment there once allowed to just get a bit indulgent with their own schtick when nobody was looking. 

Fair amount of shite in between. And the chance that he's not arsed enough to make them arsed. I doubt he's had a bad year on the payroll. And they'll never let a face and name like that go.

He's the picture of complacency. 

It's interesting isn't it? Has he been complacent or has the booking of him just been complacent. He's pretty much nailed everything he's done when he's actually had something to do. (Aside from being hugely miscast in cashing in MITB on Roman Reigns)

His initial run was good.

His face run with matches against Daniel Bryan (that two out of three falls match doesn't get enough love.) I also remember him having an absolute belter with the Big Show.

The Bar stuff with Cesaro in terms of both match quality and chesmistry was excellent as well.

With is look and his ease with talking to the media he really was a good shout for top guy at certain points.

Plus the Celtic Warrior workouts and calling Total divas 'shite' also wins me over.

Am I the only one that fucking loves everything about Sheamus?

1 hour ago, BomberPat said:

I do think Mistico got a bad rap in WWE, but he was the absolute poster-child for why people are sent to developmental to learn "WWE style" regardless of how much experience they've had elsewhere. 

He wasn't a bad signing on paper, though - biggest box office draw in Mexico in forever, perfectly positioned to be the next Rey Mysterio. Problem is that WWE had no idea what made Rey Mysterio the first Rey Mysterio, and didn't know how to present Sin Cara in a way to replicate that. At one point they were looking at bringing in Averno to feud with him, and absolutely should have done - the same way Rey first got noticed by wrestling Psicosis everywhere before transitioning into matches with American opponents, and the same way they tried to get Great Sasuke over by giving him TAKA to work with, they should have had Mistico working matches with people he was comfortable with, and not throwing him into matches with the likes of Jack Swagger and Sheamus right from the off. 

Yeah they 'tried' to help I think by having him wrestle Chavo and Daniel Bryan a few times as there was an assumption they'd know what to do in there with a Luchador. 

But yeah they'd have been far better off bringing in some other luchadors for him to bounce off. Hell even the Mexicools could have come back!

Bizarrely when I was flying out to the US a few weeks ago I ended up peeing next to Mark Haskins at Heathrow airport.

Jack MacBrayer (Kenneth in 30 Rock) pissed next to me at The Dresden in Los Angeles too. He was just as smiley as you’d imagine.